Tech Talent Trends Forum

Building upon the FACC success of the FACC Technology Knowledge Fair of September 2018, the April 18, 2019 Tech Talent Trends Forum attracted a record attendance of 125 people.

Top American companies (IBM, Comcast, ServiceNow, Verizon 5G Labs, Goldman Sachs) and institutions (Cornell University) represented within the speakers, together with emerging French Tech as well as tech students/graduates (NYU and Wellesley College) and experts of tech recruitment (Fly Technista, Soho Square Solutions).

Key takeaways:

Diverse tech teams are more productive. It is important to be diversity conscious (language is key) when posting tech offers.

Startups and scale-ups have difficulty competing with large companies in terms of salary. But there are other factors than also influence a job candidate’s choice: being challenged, and seeing a clear path to advancement (for example, Nick Taborisky of Theodo said “When we hire software engineers, we tell them that we will train them to become CTO (Chief Technology Officer) within 5 years if they work hard and follow our company's progression pathway”)

What makes a person stay in a tech position: meaning (contribute to solving social problems), learning, “my voice is heard”, “I am acknowledged for my contributions”, “I feel that I add value”, “I feel that I belong” (especially important when the team is diverse)

High competition in terms of recruitment, so important to be creative and open-minded in “candidate hunting”: pitch nights, special websites that universities look at (like “Handshake”,…)

The event highlighted the FACC program to bring top tech talent from France on a J-1 visa. Top companies like Capgemini, Atos IT, Cast Software and more use this program that works with the best engineering schools from France (Polytechnique, Centrale, ….). This program is open to American firms too, large or small!

Many thanks to our moderator Catherine Barba, event host Lauren Rogers of General Assembly, event sponsor Dassault Systèmes and event partner UC Berkeley Haas School Alumni. Thanks to FACC committee member Jabril Bensedrine of Triana Group for co-organizing this event along with Catherine Barba and FACC staff liaison Jeremie Sautter. Additional thanks to our food and beverage partners and Catchbox.

Interested in joining future tech events such as this? Discover the benefits of FACC membership and member pricing for events. Interested in hosting graduates of premier French Universities in tech roles? Discover the Exchange Visitor program on the FACC international career programs page.